The di­rec­tor of the Pan Amer­i­can Health Or­ga­ni­za­tion (PA­HO), Dr. Jar­bas Bar­bosa, has called on Min­istries of Health in the re­gion to in­crease sur­veil­lance and lead the charge to­wards the elim­i­na­tion of mos­qui­to breed­ing grounds in a bid to re­duce mos­qui­to-trans­mit­ted virus­es such as Dengue, Zi­ka and Chikun­gun­ya.

“Cli­mate change has con­tributed to an in­crease in ar­eas favourable for the prop­a­ga­tion of the Aedes ae­gyp­ti mos­qui­to, and con­se­quent­ly to the in­crease in ar­bovi­ral dis­eases in the Re­gion of the Amer­i­c­as,” said the PA­HO di­rec­tor in mark­ing Mos­qui­to Aware­ness Week.

“The ac­cel­er­at­ed growth of ur­ban ar­eas, the stor­age of wa­ter due to in­ad­e­quate piped wa­ter sup­ply, and the poor man­age­ment of sol­id waste are al­so fac­tors that in­crease breed­ing sites,” he added.